Money deducted from customers for failed Bangla QR payments will have to be automatically returned in real time or within a maximum of 30 minutes under new rules issued by Bangladesh Bank, which has also widened incentives for small-value QR transactions.
The central bank announced the measures through two separate circulars on Sunday, combining stronger consumer protection with broader incentives as it seeks to accelerate the adoption of Bangla QR payments.
Under the new dispute-resolution framework, customers will not have to lodge a complaint when their account is debited but a transaction fails and the merchant does not receive the money. Banks and payment providers must automatically identify and reverse such transactions.
The reversal should take place in real time. Where that is not possible because of host-system dependency, the money must be returned within 30 minutes of confirmation that the transaction failed.
The rules also introduce standard procedures and deadlines for complaints, refunds, chargebacks and arbitration involving Bangla QR merchant payments. They will take effect on December 1.
Customers must be able to lodge disputes through channels including mobile or web applications, customer-care centres, branches and email. They must receive a unique reference number and be able to track the status of their complaints.
Disputes where the issuer and acquirer are the same institution must generally be resolved within three business days, except cases involving suspected fraud or unauthorised transactions. Disputes involving different institutions will be handled through the National Payment Switch Bangladesh’s centralised dispute-management system.
Customers will have up to 45 calendar days from a transaction to lodge a dispute. The issuer will then have two working days to accept or reject the claim, while an acquirer will have seven calendar days to respond to a chargeback.
In a separate circular, Bangladesh Bank widened its existing incentive scheme for Bangla QR transactions of up to Tk2,000 to all merchant points holding trade licences.
Previously, the incentive covered small and marginal merchants and service providers onboarded through personal retail accounts.
Under the expanded scheme, acquiring institutions will receive an incentive of 0.10 per cent and issuing institutions 0.20 per cent for each eligible Bangla QR transaction processed through the NPSB platform.
All other conditions of the existing incentive programme will remain unchanged.
